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It seems like a respectable British home, occupied by the Songolis, an upstanding family of African immigrants. But hidden within the cellar is Muna-a teenage girl who cooks for them, cleans for them, endures brutal abuse from them... and is powerless to escape.
Then one day, the Songolis' ten-year-old son fails to come home from school, and Scotland Yard arrives at the house to investigate. While they look into the boy's disappearance, Muna must play the role of beloved daughter. She suddenly has a real bedroom, with sunlight, and real clothing to wear. But she must continue to keep quiet-and hide the fact that she has learned how to speak English. Even as the police are watching, her secret life of enslavement goes on.
Then one day, the Songolis' ten-year-old son fails to come home from school, and Scotland Yard arrives at the house to investigate. While they look into the boy's disappearance, Muna must play the role of beloved daughter. She suddenly has a real bedroom, with sunlight, and real clothing to wear. But she must continue to keep quiet-and hide the fact that she has learned how to speak English. Even as the police are watching, her secret life of enslavement goes on.
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Reviews
"The Cellar is a shocker... A powerful work... A multi-layered novel packed full to the brim of its pages with quiet horror and realism... If you are unfamiliar with Walters' other work, you will want to acquaint yourself sooner rather than later."
Bookreporter
"When you read about sadists who have brutalized their housekeepers or au pairs, you try not to think about what life was like for those poor slaveys. But Minette Walters lets her imagination run free in The Cellar. An intimate and upsetting story about Ebuka and Yetunde Songoli, a rich immigrant couple from an unnamed West African nation who claimed 8-year-old Muna from an orphanage and took her
Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
"This short work reads like a recipe for evil and may well induce a nightmare or two... Sly pacing and a detached narrative voice give this horror story exceptional punch."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)